Please excuse the newb since I am not up to par on the lingo yet. But I am was excited as hell to get my first smoker. I already typed this up yesterday but for some reason it didnt post on here. SO i will give it a go again.
So i received my new 18.5 WSM on Tuesday along with a chimney starter apple and pecan wood chunks. I also ordered a maverick et7 but it hasnt come in yet. But staring at this thing all week was killing me. I wanted to smoke something so bad. After reading up for a few days it appeared as though i should have seasoned the smoker some but I did not do so.
Had a busy weekend planned but i wanted to fit in a smoke somehow so I left work early to pick up a pork butt. I have read its a pretty forgiving meat so I thought it would be my best bet to start off with. Picked up a 8.8 lb butt for 20 bucks. After talking to a few people it appears thats kind of expensive.Was told i should be able to get it for under 2 per lb.
I made a rub loosely based off of one I found here by Chris Lilly. I like it with a bit more bite so i added more heat.
Filled my smoker ring almost to the top and cleared out the middle for the lit charcoal. Filled the chimney about half way no problem starting a fire in the chimney starter with paper.I added 2 pieces of apple wood and 2 pecan. I decided to not use water and instead foil the pan and use a clay saucer and foil it as well.
After less then 5 minutes I had the smoker up to 200 degrees so i closed the bottom vents about half way and put the butt on about 430pm. I leveled off around 260 pretty quickly. It was close to 100 out so it was a quick heat up.
After 2 hours (6:30) I checked the temp and it was still sitting about 260/265. Figured I was good and we left for dinner. Came back about 830 and checked the temp and it was 270. Closed the bottom vents a little more maybe 1/3 open now but All is good figured after 4 hours the temp was steady i wouldnt need to mess with it so we left to go have a few drinks and bet on a for ponies at the races track with a few friends.
We arrived back home about 11:30 and the whole back yard smell f'n fantastic.
Checked the lid temp and it was 350+. Ouch! No clue how long it was at that temp. Took internal temp and it was 200 even.. SO after 7 hours it was done. Thought it would be closer to 9-12 hours but i guess the hot temps shorten this greatly.
Removed the butt and was worried it would be dry as hell so i emmediatly pulled all the meat. It wasnt to bad the majority was pretty moist. But there was a small area near the bone that was kind of hard to pull and was slightly rubbery.
Flavor was good but I will say it seemed to be a little fatty and greasy the next day there was a lot of grease in the bottom of the tin pans.
It was still just as good as any pulled pork I can remember buying at any BBQ joint. Just some slimy grease on some of the pork near the bottom of the pan. Could this have been because of the shorter cook time?
Also the bark was great but I didnt have the smoke ring i see other have. Again could this be because of the shorter smoker time and higher temps?
All in all it was a fantastic meal and everyone enjoyed it so i cant complain but there is still alot to fix. BTW the cook stil had a 190 temp at 7AM but very little charcoal left and just a small piece of wood. I am asumming the reason the temp was so high was because of it being a new smoker and no water. Lesson learned though dont leave the house for the entire cook time anymore. LOL
So i received my new 18.5 WSM on Tuesday along with a chimney starter apple and pecan wood chunks. I also ordered a maverick et7 but it hasnt come in yet. But staring at this thing all week was killing me. I wanted to smoke something so bad. After reading up for a few days it appeared as though i should have seasoned the smoker some but I did not do so.
Had a busy weekend planned but i wanted to fit in a smoke somehow so I left work early to pick up a pork butt. I have read its a pretty forgiving meat so I thought it would be my best bet to start off with. Picked up a 8.8 lb butt for 20 bucks. After talking to a few people it appears thats kind of expensive.Was told i should be able to get it for under 2 per lb.
I made a rub loosely based off of one I found here by Chris Lilly. I like it with a bit more bite so i added more heat.
Filled my smoker ring almost to the top and cleared out the middle for the lit charcoal. Filled the chimney about half way no problem starting a fire in the chimney starter with paper.I added 2 pieces of apple wood and 2 pecan. I decided to not use water and instead foil the pan and use a clay saucer and foil it as well.
After less then 5 minutes I had the smoker up to 200 degrees so i closed the bottom vents about half way and put the butt on about 430pm. I leveled off around 260 pretty quickly. It was close to 100 out so it was a quick heat up.
After 2 hours (6:30) I checked the temp and it was still sitting about 260/265. Figured I was good and we left for dinner. Came back about 830 and checked the temp and it was 270. Closed the bottom vents a little more maybe 1/3 open now but All is good figured after 4 hours the temp was steady i wouldnt need to mess with it so we left to go have a few drinks and bet on a for ponies at the races track with a few friends.
We arrived back home about 11:30 and the whole back yard smell f'n fantastic.
Checked the lid temp and it was 350+. Ouch! No clue how long it was at that temp. Took internal temp and it was 200 even.. SO after 7 hours it was done. Thought it would be closer to 9-12 hours but i guess the hot temps shorten this greatly.
Removed the butt and was worried it would be dry as hell so i emmediatly pulled all the meat. It wasnt to bad the majority was pretty moist. But there was a small area near the bone that was kind of hard to pull and was slightly rubbery.
Flavor was good but I will say it seemed to be a little fatty and greasy the next day there was a lot of grease in the bottom of the tin pans.
It was still just as good as any pulled pork I can remember buying at any BBQ joint. Just some slimy grease on some of the pork near the bottom of the pan. Could this have been because of the shorter cook time?
Also the bark was great but I didnt have the smoke ring i see other have. Again could this be because of the shorter smoker time and higher temps?
All in all it was a fantastic meal and everyone enjoyed it so i cant complain but there is still alot to fix. BTW the cook stil had a 190 temp at 7AM but very little charcoal left and just a small piece of wood. I am asumming the reason the temp was so high was because of it being a new smoker and no water. Lesson learned though dont leave the house for the entire cook time anymore. LOL
